England pulled off a dominating performance in the second ODI against India in Pune to level the three-match series 1-1 on Friday. Chasing 337 for the win, the English batsmen kept on tonking the Indian bowlers as Jonny Bairstow slammed his 11th century while Jason Roy (55) and Ben Stokes (99) hit half-centuries to take the visiting team over the line with more than six overs to spare. India missed the sixth bowling option on a pitch as Hardik Pandya didn’t hand the bowl by the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli and it raised a few eyebrows.
After the match, the India captain revealed that he didn’t use Hardik as a bowler because the team management is keeping a close eye on the all-rounder’s workload and want him fit for big games coming ahead. During the post-match presentation, Virat explained, “We need to manage his body as well going forward. We need to understand where we need his skillsets with the ball along with his batting.”
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He further added, “We used him in the T20Is but it’s a bit of workload management as well. We want to ensure we have Hardik Pandya fit and strong because he’s going to be an important part of the squad.”
While the result didn’t go India’s way, the skipper was happy that KL Rahul found his form as the Karnataka batsman top-scored for the hosts with a knock of 108. Kohli himself missed out on a hundred for the second time in the ongoing ODI series and when quizzed about whether that affects him, the Indian skipper said he just wants to contribute to the team’s cause and not think about individual milestones.
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Virat explained, “I never played for 100s in my life, that’s probably why I ended up getting so many in such little time. It’s all about contributing to the team cause. If the team doesn’t win when you get three figures it doesn’t mean anything. You’re not going to sit back at the end of your career and look at numbers, it’s more about how you played the game.”
Both teams will now meet in the decider at the same venue on Sunday in the final ODI of the series.
